Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-12
HUNTING ELEPHANTS.
EXCITING ADVENTURES WITH THE BIG BRUTES IN THE JUNGLE.

Their Wonderful Power of Vision and
 shrewdness in Time of Danger A
 Camp Kaided at Night by an Enraged
 "Solitaire."
 There was period of three years when I was regularly employed by an English house at Zanzibar to hunt for ivory, and I was fitted out in the most liberal manner and permitted to go in any direction inland. The main object was to secure tusks and sent enough of them to Zanzibar to seemingly supply the markets of the world for fifty years. Something is written every day of the tame elephants-the big, good natured beasts of the circus and geological gardens but very little is written of the wild ones. had opportunity to study them under all sorts of circumstances, and have never been satisfied with the accounts given by hunters and naturalists. In my opinion the elephant in his native pastures is the lxeenest, shrewdest and most intelligent of all animals He has more courage than the lion, more ferocity than the tiger and more cunning than the fox. Only man is a match for him, and it must be pretty intelligent man, too.
 l started in the business of elephant hunt ing with the idea that only had to look up
 
 but soon discovered that was laboring un- der mistake. I have never seen any refer ence made in print to the powers of vision possessed by wild elephants. Nature endows all wild creatures with extra keen eyesight, but believe the elephant can see further than any other four footed animal had an instance of this in my first trip out.
 Six of us were scattered through wood in search of signs of the presence of elephants, win sC0l or.Xyo /aI 0f where he had been hidden and rushed upon my horse was two miles away, but one of the natives saw the performance He said the elephant broke cover as stealthily as a man, carefully approached the horse, and | was only few yards away when discovered; then he trumpeted and made rush. His sudden appearance seemed to strike the horse with terror, and he made no move to escape. The great trunk, held a1oft | as the beast charged, struck the horse 'side wipe" and knocked him flat, and he was sooner down than the elephant knelt | upon him and kneaded him into bloody pulp. When his vengeance was satisfied he rose up and retreated to the same thicket, sneaking along as if he was seeking to hide his trail l It was an hour later when reached the spot, and l was so angry over the death of my steed that nothing tho men could say would | stop me from entering the thicket in search of the destroyer. Joe followed me, bearing Q gun, and both of us were ready for any trick the beast might be up to; but we were too late We found the spot where he had stood for hours, and from which he had sal l lied out to attack the horse, but he had quietly snealzed off. The elephant, when pur- suing an ordinary course through the forest leaves broad trail behind him. He breaks down branches, uproots small trees and the l prints of his big feet could be followed on 1 horseback at a gallop. This fellow had gone 1 off so softly that we were half an hour in picking up his trail. There was not broken branch and he had set his feet down with the utmost care and selected the hardest soil After getting @ quarter of a mile away he had selected rocky ridge to travel on, and we soon lost him entirely.
 Our camp was about three miles from the spot where the horse was killed We always had one guard and couple of fires, and as there was only the wild beasts to look out for we had slept in perfect content. On this l mighty soor1 after uutdn1ghJ, the guard awoke ne and stated that some danger menaced the camp. He had heard what he believed was body of men lurking about, and the bull locks seemed greatly excited. The camp was aroused as quietly as possible, the fires were allowed to burn low, and in @ short time the statements of the sentinel were verified | OOuoDOuy or SOIueIu1uS Was luIklIlS aDOuG.
 We were in the lion country, but the t t move ..lonjs were too heavy for the king of beasts
 The noise passed clear around the camp and
 back, and then all was quiet We were under arms for half an hour, and then, all being still, we lay down, and all but the sentinel
 were soon asleep. An hour later as suddenly as if shot from the gun, the old solitary of the day charged into our camp, trumpeting like the blasts
 from a locomotive, and evidently in a great rage It was he who had been lurking about for two or three hours He had approached the camp as carefully as man could walk
 and had passed around it to locate every.
 thing and decide on point to charge from When we got the alarm, he placed himself il , the shadow of some bushes, and the natives , who examined the spot, said he stood there
 for an hour and a half without moving c
 foot.
 Bloody and destructive work followed the
 charge of the elephant He stepped on ano crushed a sleeping native, picked seconc
 up and dashed him to the earth corpse anC broke the back of a third who was trying tt get out of his way. He was soon among the bullocks, knocking them right and left witt , his terrible blows, and just then got my . gun ready. His charge had been so suddei and fierce that we were all demoralized fol t. two or three minutes Fortunately for u
 all, some ono had the sense to throw ligh
 brush on one of the dying fires and started
 a big blaze. This seemed to disconcert th elephant and he showed signs of retreating In this he was encouraged by two of our hul y locks, who dashed at him for fight, ant , raked him severely with their stout horns was dancing about, waiting to get shot and I'll tell you what saw that elephant do Ho picked up a bullock weighing at least 90 e pounds, and that with his trunk alone, an, swung him aloft as easily as you can lift al
 axe over your head He held him in the ai a minute, and then flung him clean over ou J Cape Colony wagon to tho ground. Tn e bul alighted on large heap of freshly GU e grass, and was but little injured I opene
 on the elephant just as he flung the bulloel Il and he at once bolted out of camp, carryin j. thIee bullets with him. He had scarcely go t clear when he stepped into 0 hole ill tn T ground, lurched forward, and went dow
 with 9 broken leg. Before he could get O his feet again had given him his deat e bloW. He had killed three men and fo,. e | bullocks, and wounded one man and two bu . locks, and his death gave us deep satisfaction Cleveland Leader.